<h2>Name</h2>
<p>
The Surah takes its name from the word <em>wal-mursalat</em> in the first verse.
</p>
<h2>Period of Revelation</h2>
<p>
Its subject matter bears full evidence that it was revealed in the
earliest period at Makkah. If this Surah is read together with the two
Surahs preceding it, namely Al-Qiyamah and Ad-Dahr, and the two Surahs
following it, namely An-Naba and An-Naziat, it becomes obvious that all
these Surahs are the Revelations of the same period, and they deal with
one and the same theme, which has been impressed on the people of
Makkah in different ways.
</p>
<h2>Theme and Subject Matter</h2>
<p>
Its theme is to affirm the Resurrection and Hereafter and to warn the
people of the consequences which will ultimately follow the denial and
the affirmation of these truths. 
</p>
<p>
In the first seven verses, the system
of winds has been presented as an evidence of the truth that the
Resurrection which is being foretold by the Qur'an and the Prophet
Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) must come to pass.
The reasoning is that the power of All-Mighty Allah Who established
this wonderful system on the earth, cannot be helpless in bringing
about the Resurrection, and the express wisdom which underlies this
system bears full evidence that the Hereafter must appear, for no act
of an All- Wise Creator can be vain and purposeless, and if there was
no Hereafter, it would mean that the whole of one's life was useless
and absurd. 
</p>
<p>
The people of Makkah repeatedly asked, "Bring about the
Resurrection with which you threaten us; only then shall we believe in
it."In vv. 8-l5, their demand has been answered, saying:"Resurrection
is no sport or fun so that whenever a jester should ask for it, it
should be brought forth immediately. It is indeed the Day of Judgment
to settle the account of all mankind and of all its individuals. For
it Allah has fixed a specific time it will take place at its own time,
and when it takes place with all its dreads and horrors, it will
confound those who are demanding it for fun today. Then their cases
will be decided only on the evidence of those Messengers whom these
deniers of the truth are repudiating with impunity. Then they will
themselves realize how they themselves are responsible for their dooms
</p>
<p>
In vv. 16-28 arguments have been given continuously for the occurrence
and necessity of the Resurrection and Hereafter. In these it has been
stated that man's own history, his own birth, and the structure of the
earth on which he lives, bear the testimony that the coming of
Resurrection and the establishment of the Hereafter are possible as
well as the demand of Allah Almighty's wisdom. History tells us that
the nations which denied the Hereafter ultimately became corrupted
and met with destruction. This means that the Hereafter is a truth
which if denied and contradicted by a nation by its conduct and
attitude, will cause it to meet the same doom, which is met by a blind
man who bushes headlong into an approaching train. And it also means
that in the kingdom of the universe only physical laws are not at work
but a moral law also is working in it, under which in this very world
the process of retribution is operating. But since in the present life
of the world retribution is not taking place in its complete and
perfect form, the moral law of the universe necessarily demands that
there should come a time when it should take its full course and all
those good works and evil deeds, which could not be rewarded here, or
which escaped their due punishment should be fully rewarded and
punished. For this it is inevitable that there should be a second life
after death. If man only considers how he takes his birth in the world,
his intellect, provided it is sound intellect, cannot deny that for
the God Who began his creation from an insignificant sperm drop and
developed him into a perfect man, it certainly possible to create the
same man once again. After death the particles of man's body do not
disappear but continue to exist on the same earth on which he lived
his whole life. It is from the resources and treasures of this very
earth that he is made and nourished and then into the same treasures
of the earth he is deposited. The God who caused him to emerge from
the treasures of the earth, in the first instance, can also cause him
to re-emerge from the same treasures after he has been restored to
them at death. If one only considers the powers of Allah, one cannot
deny that He can do this; and if one considers the wisdom of Allah,
one also cannot deny that it is certainly the very demand of His
wisdom to call man to account for the right and wrong use of the
powers that He has granted him on the earth; it would rather be
against wisdom to let him off without rendering an account. 
</p>
<p>
Then, in
vv. 28-40, the fate of the deniers of the Hereafter has been depicted,
and in vv. 4l-45 of those who affirming faith in it in their worldly
life, endeavored to improve their Hereafter, and abstained from the
evils of disbelief and thought, morality and deed, conduct and
character which might be helpful in man's worldly life, but are
certainly ruinous for his life hereafter. 
</p>
<p>
In the end, the deniers of
the Hereafter and those who turn away from God-worship, have been
warned as if to say: "Enjoy your short-lived worldly pleasure as you
may, but your end will ultimately be disastrous." The discourse
concludes with the assertion that the one who fails to obtain guidance
from Book like the Qur'an, can have no ether source in the world to
afford him Guidance.
</p>

